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Maat Mons
2021-02-14, 10:19 PM
I'll be joining a campaign which currently has an Inquisitor, a Paladin, a Vigilante, and a Warpriest. I'm planning to play a sorcerer. I'm struggling to find a way to design my character to "click" with Justice League mentality these guys apparently have going. Advice?

My character has the Troll-Blooded feat. (From 3.5.) But instead of a trollish ancestry, I was planning to work it in with the Bloodline he gets from his class. I'm going with the Imperious Bloodline. The premise of that is blah blah blah, scion of forgotten ancient civilization, blah blah blah. Anyway, at 20th level, I become immortal, in the sense that I no longer age.

So I'm from some awesome lineage that means I live forever (unless something kills me) and I regrow lost limbs.

I'm not sure if I want this to be something other people in my family have also had. Like we're a secret clan of immortals that roam the world, never staying in place too long, lest people notice how we never grow old.

Or maybe I'm like Highlander. One day I just didn't die of something that should have killed me, and I had no idea why. Would D&D societies be less likely to drive me out that Macleod's kin? This is a world with spellcasters who can revive the dead, after all. But then again, it's also a world with lots of human-eating Undead, and doppelgangers, and crap.

How does my nascent immortality work into my backstory? And why do these do-gooders decide I'm a good addition to their ranks? Help! I'm terrible at writing backstories!

gijoemike
2021-02-15, 11:50 AM
Do all the other party members below to or work for the same church/temple? How does the Vigilante and pally get along?

If so, you/your family could be a generations long supporter of said organization. And now your family has assigned you to the church duties so that instead of just supporting and playing a backseat role in the temple they now will begin to play an active role in how the church operates.

The end goal of your family is to have one of the bloodline be the top cleric AND top inquisitor. Your character is being used as a sign of good will and you aren't expected to become that ingrained into the inner workings of the church. As such play up the fact you don't 100% synergize with the righteous wrath of God group. Be friendly, but also be awkward.

Palanan
2021-02-15, 05:16 PM
Originally Posted by Maat Mons
Or maybe I'm like Highlander. One day I just didn't die of something that should have killed me, and I had no idea why. Would D&D societies be less likely to drive me out that Macleod's kin?

Depends on the society and how much others witnessed. But in a world where the gods can choose champions for their own mysterious reasons, your character might end up being regarded as god-touched, for better or for worse.

But I'd say it's more likely that one or more wizards, cults, royal viziers and assorted madmen will be chasing you wherever you go, trying to capture you, vivisect you and distill your essence for their own purposes.

Weasel of Doom
2021-02-16, 06:59 AM
I can think of countless ways to do it.

The most obvious motivation for a sorcerer to join a party like that, imo, is that he wants to do good. There are a fair few twists you can do on this theme.

You have been granted these miraculous abilities and you see it as your duty to repay that gift by making the world a better place ("with great power comes great responsibility").
Maybe, after an investigation prompted by your miraculous survival, you discovered the secret of your ancestors and you want to live up to their glorious example (if your lineage is one of great heroes).
Maybe, after an investigation prompted by your miraculous survival, you have discovered the secret of your ancestors and you want to make up for their sins (if your lineage is one of tyrants and debauched villains).
Maybe your family, who share this gift (or at least know of it as something that strikes every few generations), raised you to be a hero. From childhood they taught you the value of empathy and altruism and standing up for what's right, out of a sense of noblesse oblige for your inferiors if nothing else.
Maybe your family, who share this gift (or at least know of it as something that strikes every few generations), raised you to be a ruler. From childhood they taught you that ambition was the ultimate virtue, that it was only right for someone as powerful as you to take whatever you wanted whenever you wanted. You rebelled (perhaps after seeing some noble or selfless act performed by one of your supposed inferiors) and the obvious teenage rebellion for someone from a family of villains is to be a hero (I'm getting some Sirius Black vibes here).
Maybe, now that your power has awoken, the voices of your ancestors speak to you. A constant chorus of voices echoing through your head. Perhaps this is a gift - a connection to your honoured ancestors who can advise you and inspire you to greatness (presumably with a few saints among them given the sort of party they've encouraged you to join). Perhaps this is a curse - an endless chorus of voices that grow stronger by the day and threaten to overwhelm your own identity (and given the party you've joined you might see a divine miracle as the only way to rid yourself of the voices).
Perhaps these powers can only ever be possessed by one member of your bloodline at any one time. By coming into your birthright you have stripped immortality from distant relative or ancestor ... and he wants it back, if you die by his hand the power will jump back to him. By joining a party of altruistic fellows you can make up for some of the evil he has done in his centuries of life in the shadows ... or maybe you just want want to surround yourself with some burly bodyguards when he tracks you down (and if that requires you to smile and sing-along to a few hymns so be it).
Maybe you were a drunk and a layabout with no knowledge of the power that lurked within your blood. Something happened, you should have died but you didn't. Trying to make sense of the world and your place within it, you fell in with a few religious fellows who offered answers. This works as whether you come from a family of peasants (for that 'everyman' feel) or nobles (an aristocrat layabout searching for meaning in a life of wine and empty hedonism is a classic tale, and your heroic lineage would explain where your family's wealth came from even if the magic has been dormant so long time has clouded the truth).
Maybe you're not a good fit for the party. Maybe you're just a jovial and good-natured warrior who loves the thrill of risking your life in a magical duel and seeing your enemies blasted into little pieces, and you've realised that if do it to the ''villains'' people praise you for it.


You could draw in some stylistic themes from Ancient Rome (household gods, tracing your lineage back to Romulus or Jupiter himself etc) or the Far-East (more household gods, ancestor worship etc